Allotment photo update 2

Well, it's been ages since we wrote anything properly on the blog, so here is a mainly photo based catch-up on what's been happening on the allotment since July. Lots!

Produce wise we had a great year, bumper crops of onions (which we are still eating)

Another great squash harvest - although thankfully not as many as last year! (still eating these too!)


Plenty of dried beans to keep us going through the winter.


During the summer the Crystal Lemon cucumber was so prolific we could hardly cope - we made at least three batches of sweet cucumber pickle.


Rainbow Chard, delicious as well as great to look at.


Our collection of brassicas are still going and keeping us well fed.


We also had lots of apples, unfortunately they don't store very well though but we made the most of them while they were in season.



The allotment has been a riot of colour, and amazingly we still have marigolds in flower now due to the unseasonably warm weather we've been having.




We've had a few wildlife encounters with newts, slowworms and I even got chased by a grass snake (no time to take a photo of that i'm afraid!)




Spot the difference through the seasons - and the addition of our new raised beds.







And finally the new lock on our shed after break-in number two...



Sheep update to follow soon!

LMD Original

My new website, www.lmdoriginal.co.uk, is now up and running.

Visit the site for your supply of unique greetings cards now!

Thank you,

Laura

PS. A very belated sheep and allotment update will be posted soon.

Allotment photo update

Sheared!

This weekend we put the knowledge we gained on our course last week into practice – and it all went surprisingly well! We even invented a whole new way of shearing…


Not quite sure what’s going to happen yet…


Peppermint was our first volunteer for a haircut, looking good!


Next up is Petal, keen to try out our unorthodox standing up method!


Pawn has some help from Liquorice.


It’s easier with two…


It’s all over!


Laura rolling the fleeces


Pawn’s lovely fleece, all rolled up.


Ready to get outside and munch some grass!

Growing updates

The allotment has exploded into life and we have been enjoying delicious potatoes, lots of lettuces, yellow mange-tout, spinach, broad beans, radishes, spring onions, beetroot, celery, rhubarb, strawberries, blackcurrants, raspberry (just one so far!), cherries and herbs galore.

Within the space of just over a month, the allotment has grown a lot:




Won’t be long until we can add tomatoes and beans to our list too:


Last weekend we went to Shropshire and saw our sheep. The lambs grow so much in between visits, they’re getting a bit heavy to lift now!







We're off to do a hand-shearing course on Monday and will put our newly learnt skills into practice in a few weeks time, watch out girls!

Back on the Farm!

Worthy farm, Pilton, Somerset, no less! On Saturday we joined Kelly, Lucy, Phil and Will for some elderflower picking for Kelly’s business venture: The Festival Elderflower company.


It was quite surreal, picking elderflowers in a field with the pyramid stage behind us! The cows are still enjoying the grass, before 180,000 revellers descend.




Well it’s nice to be able to say we’ve been to Glastonbury this year – we didn’t see much music, but there was plenty of space to camp and the weather was lovely!

If you’re going to Glastonbury this year, check out Kelly’s stall and buy a cup of refreshing sparkling elderflower! For more info see the company’s facebook page here

In other news, we’ve been baking lots of bread,




and I even made a mother! (a sourdough starter for the confused amongst you)


Sheep are all well, we’ll be returning to check on them soon.